Mel Bay
The Guitar of Elizabeth Cotten DVD
The Guitar of Elizabeth Cotten DVD
SKU:GW819DVD
Couldn't load pickup availability
Elizabeth Cotten (1893-1987) occupies a unique niche in American fingerpicked guitar. Composer of the perennial favorite "Freight Train," she taught herself to play left-handed on her older brother's guitar (which was strung right-handed), leaving her playing not only left-handed, but upside down as well, picking alternating bass with her index finger and melody with her thumb. Her musical gifts might have gone unknown except to family and friends had not a chance meeting in a Washington D.C. department store resulted in her living with and working for the Seeger family, who were excited when they heard her music and enabled her to record.
What, then, is Elizabeth Cotten's sound? It is a beautifully flowing fingerpicked style with exceptional attention to the details of phrasing and voice leading. There is a strong improvisatory element too, because renditions of the same song performed throughout Libba's career are often surprisingly different from each other. This video includes rare film footage of Elizabeth Cotten performing all the songs that are taught, and the accompanying booklet includes TAB/standard notation transcriptions and lyrics of the songs. 102 minutes.
Share


Look Out For Our Unique Instruments In Andre 3000's New Album
Andre 3000 found inspiration in our one-of-a-kind instruments to create the groundbreaking sounds of his newest album.
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Opens in a new window.

I was looking for the right equipment for my Camac Isolde Celtic harp. I did NOT want to install the Dusty Strings pick-ups- seemed like way too much to add. This little gizmo was easy to install with the little pictures on placement- like, less than five minutes easy. I plugged the pickup into my new Roland Mobile Cube and it’s perfect! I don’t hear any sound distortion, and I think this will be just right when playing background music for noisier environments. Super happy with this!

I was excited to receive this kit. I do have several banjos already; however, I did not have a mountain banjo. I have built gourd banjos and ekontings (I went to Gambia in 2004 and 2007 to learn how to play and make them) from scratch, so I am not a beginner in terms of making instruments. I had a lot of fun putting the kit together. I do have a few observations regarding tips or slight modifications in the instruction manual, if interested.
Thanks!
Paul Sedgwick

I am very happy with the quality of the instrument. I am of Puerto Rican decent and it reminds me of my childhood, watching the musicians and learning to play myself. It is a beautiful guiro and sounds amazing.

It's great to be able to buy a hurdy gurdy in the US without having to wait for 6 months to a year or more. The Aplo is a quality entry level instrument that produces beautiful sound. It resonates very well and there are no buzzes or squeaks. Workmanship is very good. I got mine cottoned, rosined and tuned in a half hour. The transaction was easy and it arrived within a week.
I've been able to play some tunes on it with only a few hours of practice. It's going to be a lot of fun.

I love it, the entonation is really very good (sorry for my bat english).
Regards!